Pokémon Art Director Wants The Next Generation To Be Simpler

It hasn’t even been a month since the release of Pokémon X and Y, and art director Ken Sugimori is already thinking of the next generation of the series. In a recent feature interview in “We Love Pokémon” magazine, he talks about the idea of going back to simpler roots for the next generation of Pokémon games.

After being asked how he’d like to work on the next Pokémon title, Sugimori answers that rather than adding a lot and making it more complex, he’d rather go back to simpler ways, while having elements similar to what was offered in Pokémon Red and Green (Pokémon Blue outside Japan) to see how it would turn out.

Sugimori mentions that just because he feels that way, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Pokémon’s seventh generation will be going that way; however, he adds, the idea of going back to a simpler form still remains a possibility.

In addition to the vast number of Pokémon we now have, together with their attacks, abilities and items, Sugimori feels that we won’t be able to decrease the number of Pokémon, but it might be in the series’ best interests to make a large adjustment to the number of attacks, abilities and items. This is also something he’s heard from Pokémon fans, he reveals.

Additionally, Sugimori is thinking about how simplifying the designs used for the Pokémon outside of the game, such as the ones seen in other forms of media, just to experiment and see what the reaction would be like.

Finally, now that Pokémon X and Y is out, Sugimori is asked the age-old question of who his favorite Pokémon is. After all these years, his favorite is still Gengar, which he known for being fond of because it doesn’t require many lines and is easy to draw. For this same reason, his least favorite is none other than Venusaur.

As long as we get no more Jynx or Mr.Mime Pokemon. Those things are just creepy and totally out of place in the Pokemon universe.

Jettythesunfish

Out of place. Right. A series chock full with strange, magical creatures and Jynx and Mr.Mime are out of place. What?

Tylor Boreas Makimoto

One is basically a circus performer who went insane and the other was a giant magnet for racist controversies. I don’t think we need anymore of those, especially the latter.

Jettythesunfish

The latter wasn’t even racist; that was just people complaining about trivial nonsense.

Zero_Destiny

Hhhhmmm Correct me if I’m wrong but I think Tylor was getting more at how Jynx attracted a lot of negative attention (which it did and had to get redrawn) and not so much that it was racist itself.

I personally don’t mind more humanoid pokémon since by this point the mythos is pretty well tied to humans as well with stuff like Yamask and Phantump.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

You mean they’re both Japanese Yokai?

I swear ignorant people

Pockystix

so, back to balls with eyes?

kidding, kidding~

But I do think that simpler works best with the new engine.

Nanaki

Yes! More balls with eyes! o/

urbanscholar

Short version: He feels that the game as of now has too much in terms of moves, types, & etc.

He feels we fans and newer would enjoy a more streamlined experience. Also the new species count in X & Y means that they proactively had this in mind.

I don’t know their stance on the meta game but a middle ground where getting into it is easier would be ideal.

I think a big one is getting rid of HMs or how they work. I mean like for real guys we’ve all been thinking that since OG Blue & Red.

Shady Shariest

But…But… That would kill “Bi*ch i’ll HM01 you up!”- joke ;(
Edit: I have actually played Pokemon, and know how ridiculous the HM-system is.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Its barely relevant, what the hell is wrong with people? Stop messing with our TM87!!

InfectedAI

Agreed. HMs are terrible. I was hoping X and Y would get rid of them. They shouldn’t take up a move slot.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

…. Are you daft?

Zeik56

I still think it’s insane that they’ve kept that ridiculous rule that you can’t delete HM moves without the move deleter. There was a time when that made sense, but at this point they’ve pretty much negated any reason it would make a difference (TMs are now infinite, you can’t trade Pokemon with HM moves, etc), so at this point it’s a completely nonsensical carry over.

But they really do need to do away with the HMs as moves thing altogether.

miju

There’s a reason why HMs are locked. Say you’re surfing down a river and suddenly you level up your surfer in a battle. It wants to learn a new move! You replace surf with that move. You can no longer surf now because you got rid of that move, but you still need to surf the moment you return to the overworld. This messes with the conditions for surfing in the code.

The above was just an extreme example to get my point across. To be fair, Surf is a very good HM in a battle. But imagine the same if it was Cut. You go into an area (A) where you needed Cut to get in from area (B), you replace the move while in the area (B). When you go back out to area (A) the game refreshed the overworld and the tree has “grown back.” You would be stuck there because your Pokemon no longer knows the move Cut.

Of course since HMs are reuseable, you could just reteach it the move on the way out. But then what if you had connected to someone while in area (B) and traded your Cutter away and it was the only Pokemon in your party capable of learning Cut? The restrictions are annoying but they make sense.

Zeik56

I don’t see how any of those examples are actually issues. Letting you continue to surf while you’re already surfing (until you reach land) would be a very very easy thing to accomplish. I’m quite sure that wouldn’t even require any extra programming, because there’s no reason the game would need to check whether you have surf every moment while you’re surfing, it only needs to check when you initially try to surf.

The fact that HMs are infinite and thus you can reteach them HM moves infinitely negates just about any situation where forgetting an HM move would be an issue. Your “Cut” example would be very easy to solve by simply putting a ledge that you can use from the other side that would let you jump back down if you did not have cut. You would not be able to access the area without cut but you still be able to leave without it. Blocking you into an area because you don’t have the HM on the way out would only be the result of bad game design.

The only example that comes to mind where something like this could legitimately be an issue would be while surfing if you landed on a secluded island and then traded away your only Pokemon that could learn Surf. That could very easily be solved by simply not letting you access the wireless trading while you’re in those areas though, or simply not letting you trade away Pokemon in your party outside of Pokemon centers or whatever, so I see no good reason that should force them to maintain the status quo. Most of these issues are only issues if they’re completely oblivious to the potential problems and simply make a poorly designed game.

But ultimately the HM system is kind of garbage anyway and a complete overhaul would probably make for a better game. Making the abilities of HM moves an inherit ability of specific Pokemon once you unlocked them or even making them items instead of Pokemon abilities (say a raft for surfing and a sledgehammer for rocksmash) would alleviate all those problems while also being better systems in the first place.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

HM’s arent a problem in the slightest. Will you people ever stop bitching and you know focus on whats really important in pokemon? THE ADVENTURE

Zeik56

I hope you’re joking. That’s one of the worst excuses I’ve ever heard for not improving game mechanics. If that was really true then they might as well just throw out every single improvement they’ve made to the series since Red/Blue.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Because its non intrusive and negligible to the overall game’s experience. It sounds like really stupid complaining without even thinking why they are there.

Zeik56

Don’t assume because something doesn’t bother you it doesn’t bother anyone else. It’s not negligible to me. I’ve been playing since Red/Blue and I have not liked how HMs have been handled since then.

And it actually does interfere with the parts of the game that I like. The part of Pokemon I like is picking my team of 6 Pokemon and building them up into awesome fighters that I can eventually use to fight against other players competitively. The way HMs are now I have to choose between customizing my Pokemon how I want and actually being able to explore the world efficiently. If I don’t want to use a Pokemon that can learn fly or don’t want to teach my Pokemon fly then I’m walking everywhere. If I need an HM move to progress with the game and the party I want to use cannot learn it then I have to put in a Pokemon I don’t want to use just to get around the world. The whole idea of “HM slaves” is the worst and directly goes against what I like about Pokemon. This all negatively impacts “THE ADVENTURE.”

But the worst part is that these are issues that could very easily be solved with a little tweaking that would remove the negatives while maintaining the positives. Doing practically nothing to change or improve the system since Red/Blue simply because it’s always been that way and it’s not necessarily the #1 most important system in the game is pretty ridiculous. Even if it’s not something that will make or break the game, that doesn’t mean it cannot or should not be improved to make for a better game overall. They should always be striving to improve the series in as many ways as they can, big or small.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Because its extremely miniscule and not relevant to the game experience. If you’re harping on it, Im going to assume you have some serious nitpicky OCD.

I swear to god you children act insane when you feel inconvenienced in the slightest bit.

And if you want to go the whole ” THINK ABOUT ME ” route with it, what half of you people “suggest” could inconvenience OTHERS.

Zeik56

I get the impression you’re only arguing with me because I’m complaining about HMs, and not because you actually believe the current system is so integral to the game that even the smallest change would completely undermine everything about the game. I’m not sitting here claiming there is one and only one way to fix this and they absolutely must do what I say or I’m done with the series. I think there are a lot of options out there for improving the system and I’m sure Gamefreak could come up with something I haven’t even thought of that could make everyone happy, but they haven’t even tried. You’re not going to sit there and suggest to me that the current system for HMs is absolutely perfect in every way and there’s absolutely no way whatsoever it could be improved, are you?

And if you are, then please actually make a case for why the way it works now is so integral and changing it at all would ruin the game. So far you’ve only spouted vague generalizations and hurled insults in my direction but have yet to give me a single real reason why changing it would be bad for anyone.

You seem to have a problem with the fact that so many people complain about something that doesn’t bother you, but ironically you’re the one with the “THINK ABOUT ME” attitude by refusing to consider alternatives that could please as many people as possible. Maintaining the status quo to keep you happy and a lot of other people unhappy is no better than changing it in a way that would make those other people happy but people on your side of the argument completely unhappy. The only difference is that one of those is all about you.

And if you’re going to take the hypocritical route and say what you want is more important than what anyone else wants then you don’t have a leg to stand on when people argue in favor of something that benefits them and not you.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Because I dont believe in enabling people who want to do stupid shit and nitpick. Y’all need to face the writing on the wall. Its irrelevant. Nobody has time to listen to your caterwauling. Get on to what’s important and INTEGRAL. Else wise, you’re going to be ignored

Kaijumaster

Well…. Not fly and surf surely. …

LuffyxBomber

If they ever got rid of HMs, I hope it’s replaced by this:

Instead of beating a gym which allows you to use an HM, beating a gym will unlock a skill that any able pokemon can use without having to teach it a move.

Ex: Beat rock type gym, unlock Rock Smash skill. Then any pokemon that could learn Rock Smash in the current games can just smash a rock without having to learn the move.

Ex 2: Beat flying type gym and unlock flying skill. Now any of your flying pokemon can fly you around!

But I’d still like to keep HMs as TMs or learnable moves because I actually like Surf in-battle lol

Learii

make fairy-type have more weakest just 2 weakest they still can’t die

Taedirk

I’d love to see IVs get tossed, but I’m sure the competitive scene would shit a brick over that. Natures I get, Abilities I get, EVs I’m fine with; all of those make sense from an in-game perspective. IVs are just rerolling stats or collecting a stable of breeding stock to try and max out a number you can’t even see in-game. With all of the ways to reduce the hunt (perfect or near-perfect IV from in-game trade, method to guarantee passing down 5, etc.), I’d rather just see that part of the system get tossed entirely.

Godman

I used to think like that, but it doesn’t take more than 30 mins to make a outstanding pokemon. Still. . .I wouldn’t mind a method that doesn’t rely on that horrible RNG

JustThisOne

xD Wait, what? Half an hour? Have I been doing it wrong this whole time?

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Yes you have

KuroNathan

Define outstanding, because it took me all weekend to create a 5 perfect IV mawile with adamant, 5 hours for a 5 perfect IV noivern with timid, and same with 5 perfect IV modest chandelure

Godman

Just getting the pokemon to outstanding potential overall with 2 or 3 IV’s at 31. No point in going for 5 perfect unless you are going for a completely balanced/jack-of-all-trades pokemon

KuroNathan

No, even a Physical sweeper needs 5 ivs. HP, Atk, Def, SpDef, Speed. Everything but spAtk. While it sounds like nitpicking, if you want to play the game competitively /everyone/ will have 5 IVs.

The extra two IVs contribute to a pokemon’s sturdiness considerably, to put that in perspective I won a match cause my chandelure survived a bravebird from a talonflame with 1 hp. If it didn’t have those 31 def iv and 31 hp iv, it would have died and I would have lost.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

No you dont. Because pokemon themselves have max stats. Just observe WHERE you stats are because no matter what a Mega Kanghaskan is gonna smack you twice. Pokemon have their uses, maxing them out half the time is a complete waste of time

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

I beat people with less than perfect pokemon myself. You dont need 5 perfect stats

KuroNathan

its perfectly possible to beat people with just magikarp and enough support, but if you’re not maxing out its a distinct disadvantage. Lets look at your khangas khan for example.

if we go by your example and pick 3 IVs, (HP, atk and Spe) and lets assume your khangas khan was just average 15 SpD IVs.

If your khangas khan had 5 perfect Ivs, it would be guaranteed able to switch in on overheat and strike back with double sucker punch.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Yeah but Im not going to switch into a Chandelure with a Kanghaskan in the first place :p

That’s definetly a benefit, but its not a requisite if you have good strategy and you dont just pull shit off smogon. Pokemon is about observations and actual thought

Just use a battle simulator if you want to test your number crunching.

KuroNathan

Well, I happen to use chandelure as an example because its actually one of those pokemon that does way better in game then on simulator due to said non-perfect SpD IVs on most pokemon.

Makes a lot of normally 2HKO into easy OHKOs and its let me rise up the ratings chart pretty easily in the battle spot

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Thats why its all about the game man. I use simulators to test conditions, you can observe which pokemon is faster and where there bulk is at in game. It’s real easy to see where their IV’s are at for me since I’ve been playing so long. Isnt too difficult to deal with opponents by utilizing different strategy.

KuroNathan

I’m however saying, that everyone in the top rank of the ladder on battlespot (the in game wifi battle) has 5 perfect IVs on all their pokemon and by not picking 5 IVs you are at a distinct disadvantage. The top of the ladder is practically the same as the battle simulator because they have functionally perfect pokemon.

and since /everyone/ at the top of the ladder has perfect IVs anyways they should just do away with ivs in general or let us pick them

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

You do understand that the stat differences are almost negligible right?

I always max out the HP, main attacking ev and spd/ or a particular defense stat on my pokemon and they’re good to go. You know, you can use battle simulators to test less than perfect IV circumstances you know. The games themselves also have mock battles.

KuroNathan

I just gave two in game examples of that “negligible” stat difference being the difference between victory and defeat though. Everyone on 1800 up in the in game ladder runs perfect ivs because that can be the difference between a OHKO or a shut down completely by enemy walls due to being outsped.

You don’t /need/ perfect ivs to play the game, but if you want to aim for the top then it is very much required.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Sorry but from experience your example doesnt work like that :p

Real world battling man.

KuroNathan

Tell me, do you play online? not showdown or PO but actual in game battling in rated battles. Under battlespot there’s a format called rated battle where everyone climbs the ladder.

Everything I just listed is from personal experience, not simulated battles but actual real world battling in game at the high end of the rated battle ladder.

But that’s besides the point, our standards of “perfect” Ivs are different but we both still get perfect ivs first right? If everyone is doing it anyways then what’s the point of including IVs and making them such a pain to obtain, might as well do away with them if that’s the case.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Yes, Im talking from experience.

You can get 4 iv’s in the bracket you want in an extremely quick fashion. So there’s that. I personally love to breed myself, raising each and every pokemon I have on my team.

KuroNathan

I’m fine with breeding, but breeding for the sake of just ivs is silly and doesn’t offer any unique experiences or opportunities since you’re just fighting to meet a competitive standard anyways.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Except it really doesnt take that long.
Nobody’s just breeding for IV’s and its actually something enjoyable.

Asura

No. I bred for IVs before I learned of RNGing. And it’s not enjoyable. It’s awful. And I know a dozen like me irl. There’s your worldview shattered.

Though one really has to think, the competitive scene is already filled with near perfect IV Pokemon, and most people wouldn’t even bother starting meta game without having near perfect IVs.

IVs were supposed to give you an edge, but lately it’s just another requirement to be evenly matched in terms of stats with other players. It’s become an another tedious grind in order to be decent in competitive and since everyone can achieve near perfect IVs, it doesn’t offer much strategic value other than for Hidden Power.

KuroNathan

As a competitive player I would welcome the removal of IVs in general, or at least a way to increase IVs while breeding. The current gen already allows you to hit 5 perfect ivs with enough time reasonably, in the past it was 3, and almost no pokemon needs six perfect IVs to be viable. So now the standard of perfection is so much higher all competitive players make sure their pokemon has the 5 ivs

Sardorim

Perfect IVs are why I don’t play competitively. Too much work for me.

Zeik56

I think the IV system is just flawed. That kind of randomness just shouldn’t exist in a competitive environment. But if they do keep them I think it’s about time it got an overhaul. They just did it with EVs, its time IVs got some real change.

SlickRoach

As someone in the competitive scene I agree with you wholeheartedly. Either that or just give every Pokemon perfect IVs, which I guess is the same thing in a way.

Rasputing

You think competitive players would be mad? I don’t speak for the whole community, but I personally would love it. Training and breeding is tedious, let me go straight to the battle please.

Taedirk

At first, yeah. Kneejerk reaction to OH GOD CHANGE WHY ARE YOU MAKING BATTLES SO CASUAL OMGWTFIQUITFOREVER. Then the vast majority would pull their heads out of their asses and realize how much of a quality-of-life improvement it would be over spending hours breeding (or giving in and using hacked/edited ‘mon.)

Asura

You’re 100% wrong. Most competitive players want IVs gone entirely (just make every Pokemon have 31 IVs by default).
I have absolutely ZERO clue why you would think anyone would want IVs in. You realize most competitive players RNG because **** IVs, right? RNGing is a pain in the ass. Don’t get me started on how much more of a pain breeding IVs is…

Unfamiliarity with the competitive community but general assumptions on video game communities. There’s always somebody bitching about change no matter how good it is.

Suicunesol

I guess I’m the only one who likes IVs because they make each individual Pokemon unique, just like any real creature would be. I thought it was really clever to have a system where each Pokemon had slightly randomized stats, even if you ended up with a Pokemon on the lower end of the spectrum, because more than likely your Pokemon would be completely unique. I’m sure that was GF’s reasoning for including it in the first place.

a real ghost

Right. I don’t know what problem you people have with IVs. Firstly, no one in the competitive scene will care if you remove them as that’s just taking out a huge time sink from their days. But more importantly, why the CHRIST do you want to remove INDIVIDUAL VALUES, the things that was implemented to make every Pokemon unique and different? Just because your Pokemon isn’t 31s across the board doesn’t mean it’s bad – its IVs excel in one area and that makes it better than another Pokemon that excels in a different area. Of course, because 31 is the best value, people will WANT 31 in every stat but something people seem to forget is… this game is for kids. They only know that every Pokemon, even of the same species, has different stats. And that is cool. Don’t know why you want to take that away from them.

Stuart Nisbet

tbh why are there so many moves? there should only be 4 moves for each pokemon tbh – and what’s the deal with evolution? um…last i checked there was no need to use weaker pokemon, so they should all be stage three. and there’s all this held item bs too, wtf is that? is this animal crossing? why do i want to hold an item????? whats a ditto???? where am i?????

” its IVs excel in one area and that makes it better than another Pokemon that excels in a different area.”

That idea becomes completely redundant when you have Pokemon with 5 perfect IVs being a common sight in the scene. Again, it offers no strategic value what so ever other than being another requirement to be normal at competitive levels. Most builds only make use of 5 stats anyways with the last one being completely useless.

And yes the game is made for kids, but guess what, it’s also made for the competitive scene as well. If they didn’t care about the competitive players, they wouldn’t have bothered to make new types, weakness and resistance adjustments, tweaks to battle mechanics (which otherwise wouldn’t have made much of an impact on casual play) and added new items which are clearly focused for meta-game.

While I respect the idea of making pokemon unique from each other, I have to question their motives on it. I personally don’t like it when games have a certain Ideal behind it, but then they introduce/tweak a mechanic that goes completely against it. It was fine before when near perfect IVs were very hard to get since they stuck to the ideal but now, that ideal is silly. I have the same problems with the HM system. They give you this freedom of choosing any pokemon to be a part of your team but yet punish you for not having certain type of pokemon in your team by completely stopping your progress. The ideals clash with each other and makes me wonder wtf is the developer thinking.

And let’s be honest here, highly doubt most kids even know about IVs much less care about them unless they are competitive.

Now THAT Espurr is a cutie, but no lol. I really honestly don’t like most of this generations Pokemon lol

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Goomy will mess you up

AuraGuyChris

If his simple ideas means getting rid of Mega Evolutions and fixing them all up, I’m all for it.

Least favorite is Venasaur?
No wonder why the Bulbasaur line is greatly shafted in the Pokémon Origins OVA.

subsamuel01

I liked the Mega Evolutions, they add more depth and strategy to the game. I loved X and Y because of its size and complexity, it was a good change.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

I will shank you I will HM01 YOU TO THE DISTORTION WORLD AND BACK

Jettythesunfish

Wow, so fast! Though I kinda expected this seeing the various Gen 7 hints in X and Y, including that key item you get. Well, on topic, as long as the designs are still unique as always, I’d be ready to welcome the 7th gen. I only wonder what they’ll do with the new roster this time around. Seeing the low number we got in Gen 6, I’m a little worried…

Nanaki

Gen 7 hints? I’m almost certain you’re referring to an unknown key item that’s supposed to be used in the games but in a later event, not later generation.

Jettythesunfish

It mentioned a legendary Pokemon, and I think you’re told it’s from a region that’s of none of the recent ones.

Strain42

My favorite is Haunter for that reason. I love how his design is very simplistic, but also interesting and awesome. Plus…floating ghost hands.

Simon

I really really want a game where I can travel to all or at least two different regions again.

urbanscholar

preaching to the choir!

AuraGuyChris

Dude, I wouldn’t even care if we didn’t have any new Pokémon for THIS. It’d be the ultimate nostalgia trip.

Coming from Gen 1 as my start, Gen 2 was an amazing deal being able to go through Johto and then relive the experience of Gen 1 three years later as a call back to how it all began and what changed since then as a means of a greatly extended post-game.

Soul Silver and Heart Gold pushed the envelope even further and was actually the game that got me back into the franchise after I was left disappointed with Gen 3. I completely skipped D/P/Pt and actually have a copy of Platinum with only a gym beat (in comparison to the rest of the games after that which I have each game beaten). HG/SS put me back in the game; it’s what I wanted out of it…and I said years before its release and right of FR/LG on the GBA that if they ever remade G/S/C on a console I will buy that console.

Having Tyranitar or Rhyperior following you around that you know you trained up from that egg was always so neat.

Tyranitar is happy as hell! <3

It would kill most people by blinking! :D

Anesia Hunter

That would be a nice feature to see back, but I’d like that to be in combination with Pokemon Amie.

I know a lot of people hate Pokemon Amie (simply because they find it dumb to bond with your Pokemon), but I think it’s a fun an cute feature to enjoy between all of the battles and breeding.

Kaijumaster

I love it! A) it takes the friendship beyond ‘b*tch kill’ and the bonuses are amazing. My Gigalith dodges way more and gets boosted x like a trade.

Zeik56

I have a feeling we won’t be seeing that return for awhile, given that they already had issues with framerate without it. Having a giant Wailord trailing behind you would make that exponentially worse.

JohnNiles

Framerate issues for sure – it makes me chuckle that a horde of 5 pokemon lags the game. And there would be issues with collision detection. Yep, it’s done for. That’s why any especially rare shinies I get in Gen IV will stay there forever.

Daniel Jeanbaptiste

cause they are genwunners

Draparde

Personally i feel it would add more adventure. and longevity (since rather than making, say a world tournament for Kalos, they could let you go to Unova,). I’ve never been a fan of needing to catch 700+ pokemon, but only actually being able to “catch” alot less than that.

having more regions would open that up. since you could catch gen V pokemon in Unova, ect ect. (or they’d be more common there anyway).

Anesia Hunter

You DON’T NEED TO catch over 700+ Pokemon. The PokeDex count has gone up from views, since gen D/P/Pt. That’s also the gen where the “Gotta Catch’em All!!” slogan died. I’ll never understand why so many people still feel compelled to catch all of the Pokemon, when not even the developers expect you to do that due to the large number and the large number of ways you have to obtain Pokemon nowadays. As for revisiting Unova, we technically did that in gen 5 itself with B2W2, which is why half the game is blocked off until post-game. I still hate the fact that we can’t breed Pokemon until post-game, but they pulled that same bull in FR/LG. But anyways, it would have been nice if they let us revisit Sinnoh and let us get a few legendaries, such as Arceus, Shaymin and one of the Space and Time Trio or even Darkrai.

Draparde

I know they count for seen. i probably shouldent have said “need”

and it still doesn’t really fix the point that even seeing all 700+ Pokemon is a hassle lol. (since B2/W2 would give you a shiny charm for doing that, i assume they intended for it to be a goal)

I kinda don’t like the idea, the level rebalance was already bad in HGSS for me and the Kanto wild Pokemon was a terrible waste of grass patches since they had the original leveling, had a hard time leveling up for Red but that’s just me.

Obviously you never played Pokemon G/S/C since they were the same way with the traveling to Kanto from Johto. It made more sense for the Pokemon to be their original levels in the grass areas too, since you were basically re-traveling around Kanto and seeing what’s changed overtime. Pokemon levels being high on the early routes just makes no sense, since they are beginner areas (and it didn’t make sense in B2W2). VS Seeker was a bit annoying due to the fact that you had to go all the way back to that route and then only the NPC who were on screen would let you know who wanted to battle. Poke’Nav from R/S/E was nice and helpful and not as random as the Poke’Gear phone calls. I just wish Poke’Nav came with a radio app to change the music while going around the games.

Perhaps criticizing your notalgic feels made you assume I didn’t experienced Pokemon GSC but I have played Pokemon Silver long time ago and back then I liked since it was something new and I was little I guess but after experiencing Gen III and IV nowadays I felt HGSS underwhelming and if I’d go back to GSC I probably would feel the same.

Probably keeping the Wild Pokemon levels makes sense but after you fight all the trainers in Kanto (Which by the way I think it didn’t make sense they were overleveled considering the routes they were, kinda kills the point of starting a new region anew) the whole region feels empty and pointless, if say you wanna raise a new team it’s damn slow to train them in the wild so I think this is where VS Seeker comes into game since you would easily rematch any trainer anytime but with PokeGear you can only do it certain days in certain locations or when they feel like it and most likely you’ll have to move back and forth from Kanto to Johto and it sucks you can’t go to all places directly, I personally hate it since if you only train on the wild and considering the horrible level cap the game has, at best you can level up to lv 55-60 in Mt Silver without too much pointless grinding.

In regards of remakes I loved FRLG better since even if they wanted to bring a classic, they still brought something new and wonderful as Vs Seeker, the new islands are great places to train and rematch a stronger league and training new Pokemon is much easier. Same in DPPt, I enjoyed the fight area better and if you had me to pick in between a new, stronger area than a nostalgic and huge underleveled place, I prefer the stronger new area better.

And you know what’s funny? The new and quite small areas in FRLG and DPPt had more new Pokemon in the wild than an entire region full of Kanto Pokemon that you already catched back in Johto or at least a great percentage of it.

Didn’t played Gen III in a while but I almost forgot it has a rematch system, you have to wait until trainers get the Pokeball stamp of rematching and once you battle them you have to wait once again, again a waste.

TL;DR I enjoyed GSC back then but after FRLG and DPPT I felt HGSS very underwhelming.
I prefer a new stronger area than a huge underleveled Region available.

The Watcher

you say TL;DR yet you post double the amount of text in response. Great logic. btw TL;DR

I’ve TL;DR in the beginning in case a lazy asshat wanted to skip everything past the first paragraph, like you for example.

Well then, I’ll move it to the end.

Cazar

I’m fine with that as long as it’s not a ghost town of a region and they don’t cut the main quest short for it’s sake like they did with GSC.

Brandon001

PLEASE THIS.

artemisthemp

I really want a Game, where you can capture all 7 billions Pokemon :P

Krisi92

Sadly, the last time that happened, we got the smallest region to date by far, and the second smallest terribly shortened to like quarter of its original size. That’s counting all cities and routes slightly being smaller, some places, like Mt. Moon and the Power Plant being ridiculously smaller, and many bigger areas completely missing (like Silph. Co, the Rocket Hideout, Seafoam Islands, the Safari Zone, Pokémon Tower, etc). It would be neat to revisit an older region in a new game again, but it would either be a lot smaller, or just would be a chore to explore for the most part – you know, without all the story, challenge, and new, exciting areas.

Lemski07

good job keep em comming

3PointDecoupage

Great. We’re only getting 30 pokemon next gen.

Guest

they should honestly work on giving all non legendary/rare pokemon 2nd and 3rd evolved forms

I would like a Jynx evolution. She was left out when Magmar and Electabuzz gets one

3PointDecoupage

I want a marowak evolution with bone armor and a samurai themed farfetchd evo.

FlobotingIt

You can go as far back as you want, in fact, I wouldn’t mind a Pokémon: Yellow Spirit.

BUT THERE SHOULD BE RELATIONSHIPS BLRARGAUGAHO.

No, just kidding on that last part. But I want my Pokémon Yellow remake.

Dsvkb

Here’s what I want in a Pokemon game: I want to buy a house, design it how I wish, and then move if I want. Relationships wouldn’t be bad either. I also want to be able to become a gym leader, or defend the Pokemon League after beating it. I want to basically be able to make my own choices on where and what I do in the Pokemon world.

ShawnOtakuSomething

>:} I like the way you think

J_Joestar

and i want XY Hex Maniac as a waifu.

Zeik56

Why would you ever want relationships in a Pokemon game? Nobody in the Pokemon world is interesting enough for that not to be the most shallow and boring relationship ever.

Hahah or until a certain time when you revisit the Pokemon League, new trainers will challenge you and maybe some cameos may appear *coff coff* RedLeafGoldKrisMayBrendanDawnLucasHilbertHildaNatheRosa*coff coff*!

I could see defending your title as more of a public Battle Chateau thing where random NPC Trainers send you challenges and it builds up to known characters wanting to take your spot and just some interesting dialogue but nothing past that. Basically you’d just do more battling but anything like actually waiting in the Champion chamber (Unless you just go there after getting said challenge i guess) would not be a big deal. Having your own Gym would be a bit out there and I doubt would happen and isn’t really needed, especially since the whole deal is about you becoming the Champion in which case you’re already above a Gym Leader so it’d be illogical and redundant. House or anything similar to the hideout mechanic in Gen 3, sure. Relationships? That’s just unnecessary.

MrRobbyM

I’m with you there, at least in spirit. Basically, I’d like to see them redefine what a Pokemon game is. So far it’s always been small town>pick a starter>beat all the gyms and the baddies along the way>Legendary pokemon>Pokemon league>the end. I got bored of that after gen 3.

Belphybear

Secret Base was a good feature that was similar to your idea, it’s the one thing I really would love to see back.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Sounds like Pokemon Platinum

SBKJAZZ

Simpler, huh?

How about we change IVs from 0-31 to “Below-Average, Average, Above-Average, and Superior”?, reducing the variances from 32 to 4… Or heck, just do away with them entirely. I’m aware they made it easier to perfect them lately, but they’re still an unnecessary step that wastes a ton of time.

Not necessary – it’s an option. It is one you don’t have to participate in if you’re casual about playing it. But it is there for those that want to delve further into it if they have the will and the time to do so.

Kinda like how the Disgaea series handles itself, another title I got as of late and a franchise I’ve been with for a while – the main scenario and what you need to do require casual, minimal knowledge to beat it. It may take you 20-40 hours and you’ll be done. There is probably at least triple that amount or more in wait for you if you so want it. You don’t have to do it, it’s just there if you want it…and that is exactly what I like about a formula like that. It’s not there forcing you to get better and be completely perfect about it, it’s there if you want to.

Kinda like getting everything done in a Kirby game – you don’t have to; it’s there if you want it.

SBKJAZZ

I know it’s “there if you want it to be”, I’ve gone way deep in both Pokemon and Disgaea. All I was saying is, if they want to make the series “simpler”, removing or tweaking IVs is a good way to start. (As they’ve taken measures to simplify keeping IVs for hatched this gen, they are very much aware of this fact)

To be fair, Super Training and the Judge in the corner of the Poké Center is a good step forward. It gives you a more direct option at raising them right. IVs are probably going to be one of those things that will be hard to change, though, unless they outright remove it as you mention and set everything to maximum and simplify it to natures only…but at the same time you then lose that aspect of setting up whether a multi-function Pokémon can attack as a sweeper, attack mixed, defend bulky, etc. Also consider that Hidden Power, now also simpified to 60 power instead of a wide variance, still relies on IVs for its typing.

SBKJAZZ

So? When importing an old Poke, it could still keep the IVs in mind while calculating the hidden power, and store that value separately.

As for losing the aspect of setting up the battle style… that’s part of making it “simpler”. Simple does not equal worse.

Sardorim

Not an option if you actually want to battle other players with your Pokemon at their best and not be at a severe disavantage. If you don’t have perfect IVs in the stats that matter most you may as will not even battle other players online.

It’s a huge wall in the way of many actually battling each other due to how time consuming it is to get a perfect pokemon team.

Actually…it still is! You can play any way you want, of course you are at a bit of a handicap if you don’t specifically train it to whatever but there are plenty of casuals out there that just try based on what they know and couldn’t care less about what places like Smogon have to say about tiers, banlists, spreads, etc.

And to be honest, I couldn’t really care less about going against random people online because of the cheap nature of it all most times. I’ll take on some people that I know that are legit on Skype and people I know in real life but outside of that the rest is just BS.

Of course fighting five Bidoofs and one Bibarel with your team for the lawlz is humorous and all but…

Sardorim

A huge handicap if you’re using a sweeper that’s only slower than the other sweeper because your Speed IV isn’t perfect but theirs is.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Trick room. You guys can really mess people up when it comes to speed because everyone relies on it so much and its the most flexible stat in the game. Real easy to trip people up because they homogenize their strategies. Pokemon is about observation

Renaldi Saputra

making pokemon re-burst game will be cool

MrJechgo

As long as we don’t get “simplier” Pokémon designs, I guess he could simplify a few mecanics here and there.

ShawnOtakuSomething

pokemon idea:

What if there was a
pokemon game that gave the players choices and what choices you made
gave you different endings ( like most RPGs today).Like you working for
the bad guys *and then at one point they give you a option to ether be
the leaders right hand man, overtake him and become leader, or work for
the good guys and double cross him* or not facing the Elite Four and
going for the Stadium league. yeah I know pokemon is meant to be kid
friendly and have a some what simple story line, but I think something
like that would be amazing in Pokemon.

MrTyrant

I been waiting for something like this too. Also add a hex maniac as your friendly love rival making each encounter look like she was stalking your main character lol

SOMEGUY7893 .

Even though pokemon is generally for kids doesn’t mean one or two spin-off games directed at older audiences should be avoided. And personally I’ve been hoping for a pokemon game that had choices and a decent story for a long time since i’ve started playing it.

Renaldi Saputra

but if they do that, kids will be infected and eventually become bad guys.. that seem doesn’t appropriate for kids, if so, then they should make it cero B++

TheFoolArcana

Go play SMT if you want that.

ShawnOtakuSomething

-_- go home Wild card user

SlickRoach

It’s really hard to disastisfy me when it comes to Pokémon designs so I’m cool with simpler for a change.

heartless141

scraps IV!
it adds basically nothing to the competitive scene but mindless rerolling.
and create many really… awkward situations where i have to (well, i don’t, but it’s way easier) breed a pokemon with its mother/father, right after it was born. and then throw away bazillions of baby pokemons.

i mean i accepted the Gary Oak road. but I would love to fight and train competitively with the first one i caught, instead of the breeding game.

Byas

So Gengar is his favorite too? I think I just love this guy even more now. :3

Heisst

I’m seeing that top picture in like every related article.

DrakeClawfang

Gengar is the most badass Pokemon ever. To know his creator shares my adoration is pleasing

I wish they would plunge a bit harder into the aspect of customizing your trainer.

Let us be like the trainers we encounter (ace trainers, hikers, ect) and also let us customize more. Give us more body type diversity and clothing options that won’t cost all our money in-game.

Let us create our own gym. Friend safari’s was a good step. Now let us become gym leaders after we finish up most of the game. With the online capabilities, people around the world could challenge us.

Make individual pokemon more than just data. The competitive scene means that people are constantly breeding and changing their teams to have perfect IV’s. So the individual pokemon are just…breeding fodder. Make it so that we can get connected to pokemon not just because we have some pseudo-pokemon eugenics ring lol.

I realize comparing to eugenics is a bit extreme since breeding is a normal custom for animals–and pokemon are the equivalent of that, but it would be nice if the pokemon were MORE than just breeding for perfect IV’s and then toss the rest aside.

J_Joestar

i don’t think the clothing costs in-game were that bad, although the selection (at least for guys) is pretty poor.

“Create a Gym” would be cool, maybe even give us a small area (roughly about 1-1.5x the Friend Safari area) that we could somewhat customize as your “Gym”.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Let us take on our responsibilities as a champion and explore a new world in full teeming with diversions

Draparde

i personally think that you should be able to get outfits from anyone (or to sort of “unlock” it to appear in the shops) after you beat that trainer.

but yeah. i’d love to see them expand on it. I like the gym idea too.

Max

I doubt they’ll really remove moves and abilities since it would mess with several layers of customization.
I do think they won’t be adding more depth beyond EVs/IVs and such.

J_Joestar

if this Gen is any indication, we would be getting more methods to more easily manipulate them.

Blaz

OK Nintendo. How about we worry about what the hell you’re going to do with Legendaries, region ideas, and THIS generation fully, before saying “we want the next generation game to be simple”. That’s the problem with young-uns today, they don’t flesh out what they start…

Magnumsally

i was ok with this gen

cyberkinghardy

LOL yeah make it simpler. Latest gen of pokemon look like robots rather than monsters.

Jettythesunfish

Eh?

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Dialga and Barbancle

Jettythesunfish

Your point?

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Clearly this person takes those two pokemon to be the entirety of the game.

Even though we have bunnelby running around

Amine Hsu Nekuchan

Just make virtual console ports of Red and Blue?

The games were fun in the day, but they lacked for a lot. I don’t think going simpler is the right dirrection. If anything, the critism I’ve heard has been the simplified story from Black/White was a step backwards.

Revolver Jesus Super Pimp

Seriously do it. I’m tired of all this ev, level all this complicated ass crap. Take it back to its roots.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

I want the next game to have different goals or at least have us challenged with the responsibilities of being a champion

Anesia Hunter

This is something I still don’t completely understand about after watching how Cynthia travels about the world, despite her needing to stay in her own region awaiting new challengers of the Pokemon League. So, this makes me wonder how it all works.

Getting to actually work as the champion post-game could actually be interesting, since we really don’t know much about their responsibilities other than battling anyone who comes to take their title. (I could see someone making a hack of this. >_>)

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Yeah,I’ve been trying to get the idea into the folks at Gamefreak quite often XD

J_Joestar

Maybe Aaron just gives her a phone call whenever a challenger shows up and Cynthia has 3 other trainers to buy her time to fly back?

I’m most likely not the first or only one to notice this, but I find that the Pokémon designs have become more intricate with age, and that the hardware platform they come out on had a good deal of influence in that. Many G1 Pokémon are really simple in color with some dual-colored ones having either black (Cloyster), white (Voltorb) or a different shade of their primary color (Mewtwo); G2 started having more separate color contrasts (Lanturn); the intricacy increased in G3 and now color-pieces can afford to be smaller for more “shapely” silhouettes (Zigzagoon), but it was still largely about solid colorations; G4 resolution started to allow various minute markings within the solid pieces of color (Floatzel, Empoleon); I can’t say much about G5, since I haven’t played any of the games yet, but I think G6 is more or less what I saw in G4 raised even further with a higher resolution and 3D.

I realize that I’m skimming over a lot here, and there very likely are exceptions to the trend I stated, but it’s still a train of thought I’ve ended up in lately while browsing the XY Pokédex in National order.

So my question regarding Sugimori’s wish to go back to simple designs would be: “How far back?”. Probably not G1/G2 levels, but I think G3/G4 styles are balanced enough to work.

As for me i would prefer a pokemon game which is aimed for older audience, up until now i have stomached 6 generations worth of stupidity from the series as the game always made for younger audience and older fans are neglected most of the time. If the 7th gen ever comes out, i would see less idiocy like Ash from the anime.

Kai2591

Just….don’t make it too simple haha~

epy

Do away with IVs. I’m sure even the people that care about them don’t enjoy having to deal with them.

Perhaps, but at the same time, it’s disheartening to see a Pokémon I custom-bred with good Nature, Ability and Moves to crash and burn at battle facilities just because it doesn’t have top IVs.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

Your team must have horrible synergy then :p

Hunts Rattata

I wouldn’t want to see them go away entirely, just cut down on the hassle surrounding them. I should be able to check my Pokemon’s IVs at its status screen, not have to carry them five or six at a time to an IV Judge (who for some reason can’t look at Pokemon in your boxes like the Memory Girl can).

They should the player interact directly with IVs of breeding pairs and largely control what gets passed down. If it could get to the point where you could actually control what Hidden Power type a Pokemon has instead of it being a crapshoot, that’d be great.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

I like the fact that it takes a keen eye to see which pokemon has good IV’s and being a serious breeder to raise a pokemon. That is true “Role Play” its something I connect with my pokemon.

Armane

There’s lots of ways to make Pokémon simpler:
Ditch useless items (such as EV items).
Remove IVs or let players alter them as they see fit.
Allow natures to be changed.
Change every attack move so it uses the higher of the two attack stats.
Simplify the Pokémon designs by going back to simpler looking animal+element designs and do away with all the spikes and too many colours/patterns.
Add an in-battle Pokémon look up which will tell you their type and which abilities they can have.
Stop wasting the bottom screen on pointless features, give us things we want or could use; like a mini-map tab, menu tab (like HG/SS), and a Pokémon condition tab (with HP bars and whether they are holding an item; like the Pokétchi had).
Add toggle run to the options menu.

They are moves. People will loose their shit if they cant use Surf over hydro pump

Zeik56

They can just make them TMs. There’s literally no reason that couldn’t happen.

Laer_HeiSeiRyuu

The person above suggested they be removed entirely.

Altumn

I don’t think he’s the only one who wants that. And in my opinion… you can make a new region without new pokemon… I don’t see the problem there. Adding 100 more seems more problematic.

Fox

simplifying the designs?

IMHO, Pokemon’s biggest problem is that many of the designs are too simple to be interesting, let alone appealing. Dragon Quest is the monster design to emulate, not Ni no Kuni.

Krisi92

Funny, my two favorite Pokémon are Gengar and Venusaur.

Touchybit

Really? Well i’m done with Pokemon. If they going to make it even more easy then X/Y i can pretty much just stop wasting money on this series.

AuraGuyChris

He says Gengar is the easiest to draw, yet the one shown in the anime looks wildly different.

Robgoro

Yes. Maybe we should go back to making Pokemon more like nature instead of anthropomorphic nightmares.

Hunts Rattata

Jynx and Mr. Mime are probably the poster children of “anthropomorphic nightmare” designs.

Robgoro

I can’t even argue against that. I think that the Gen V starters are a pretty great example what how Pokemon designs need to be simple. A pig should stay quadripedal. An otter that stands should stay bipedal. None of these funky transitions anymore.

Nicholaus Thomas

i think a great idea would be to have the story line make you go to an old region or new one to finish your quest and possibly make it tht you have to beat all the gym leaders in both to get to the elite four it would make for a way better 2 region experience. and maybe instead of just the elite four have a pokemon tournament with strong trainers till you get to the champion

Nicholaus Thomas

i think they should make a game so you have to go to another region as part of the storyline and youd gave to beat both regions gym leaders to get into a pokemon tournament to then eventually beat the elite four and the champion

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